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Drugmakers and medical-device companies are concerned that studies comparing the cost effectiveness of treatments will be used to deny patients access to the best care available. "The overarching purpose of the program is to give clinicians and patients information they need to make decisions," including data on effectiveness, safety and costs, said Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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Frost & Sullivan honored Cambridge Research & Instrumentation with the United States Optical Imaging Technologies in Drug Discovery Product Line Strategy Award for its Nuance and Maestro multispectral solutions, which have significantly benefited the in vitro and in vivo imaging markets. The technologies allow researchers to quantitatively assess various molecular markers in single cells, tissues and organisms that can be used in drug development and clinical trial models.

U.K. scientists developed a drug called CPHPC that eliminates serum amyloid P component, a protein that has been linked to Alzheimer's disease, from patients' brains. "Coupled with the absence of any side effects, these new findings strongly support further clinical studies to see whether longer-term treatment with CPHPC protects against the inexorable mental decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease," the lead scientist said.

Technologies for personal health records could empower patients, but such systems also pose risks because they rely on billing information, which could reflect coding inaccuracies and do not completely indicate people's medical conditions, experts said. Dr. Paul Tang, chief medical information officer at Palo Alto Medical Foundation and member of a panel tasked to advise the Obama administration on health IT policy, said such problems should be studied further to protect patients.

Senior HHS adviser Laura Petrou will serve as chief of staff to HHS Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius, a White House official said. Petrou, who also worked for former Sen. Tom Daschle, will replace Mark Childress, a Senate aide and a lobbyist at Foley Hoag.

SNM said the Medicare Claims Guidance on new PET coverage likely will take effect in May or June and has devised two options that Medicare contractors can use to process billing and claims during the interim. The society also has scheduled a webinar April 27 to discuss the final PET NCD and the new NOPR requirements.